North Louisiana fields are busy with harvest and fall planting decisions, yet a possible federal shutdown would tangle that work with red tape and uncertainty. The issue is not politics. It is timing.
Farmers live by seasons and cash flow. When federal services pause, everyday decisions about credit, insurance, and marketing get harder across Caddo, Bossier, DeSoto, and the Delta parishes.
Read MoreCongressman Rick Crawford (AR-01) and Congresswoman Julia Letlow (LA-05) introduced the Bridge the Gap for Rural Communities Act (H.R. 5710). This legislation helps farmers bridge the safety net gap until the updated farm provisions in the Working Families Tax Cut Act take full effect next year. The legislation suspends the payment limitation for the Price Loss Coverage (PLC) program and the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) program for the 2025 crop year and provides farmers the option to elect by December 1 if they want a 50% partial payment by the end of the year instead of waiting until October 2026.
Read MoreThree Louisiana men were recently cited by Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries enforcement agencies for fishing more than 150 pounds of brown shrimp over the legal limit.
Agents cited Jose Ernesto Canales, 38, Victor Funes-Carcamo, 43, both of Baton Rouge, and Roy Junior Rowley, 48, of Denham Springs, for violating Wildlife Management Area (WMA) rules.
Read MoreThe 2025 USA Rice Outlook Conference kicks off soon in just over two months, and programming that jumps from the field to the supermarket has been announced.
Digital marketing specialist and 2024 Outlook speaker Eric Martindale returns to the education stages to lead the session, From Shelf to Shopper: Navigating Grocery Retail Trends.
Read MoreOctober is Italian American Heritage Month, a time to honor Italian traditions and their impact across the country. In Independence, Louisiana, one family’s story shows how those roots continue to grow strong, five generations later.
Read MoreThe American Farm Bureau Federation sent letters to President Donald Trump and Congressional leaders to emphasize the severe economic pressures facing America’s farmers and ranchers. Falling crop prices, skyrocketing expenses and trade disputes are creating conditions that are too much for farm families to bear.
Read MoreDry weather is settling in statewide, after some spots actually saw too much rain! That's hard to believe from here in central Louisiana, where we have stayed quite dry. The drought monitor shows several areas of moderate drought, and it looks like this will worsen in the coming weeks. I've shared a map that shows most of the state has seen less than half of the rain it should see in the last 30 days, with some exceptions in southeast Louisiana, and up near the Arkansas border.
Read MoreThe weekly update of the U.S. Drought Monitor was released this morning ... and that corresponded with the issuance of burn bans in Caddo and DeSoto parishes.
Burn bans were already in effect for Acadia (since mid-September) and St. Landry (as of Oct 8) parishes.
Read MoreFarm Bureau veteran Dr. John Newton returns to the American Farm Bureau Federation team on October 20, 2025, to serve as Vice President of Public Policy and Economic Analysis. In this role, he will lead AFBF’s government relations and advocacy staff and serve as chief economist, guiding AFBF’s team of economists.
Dr. Newton previously served as AFBF’s chief economist from 2018 to 2021. He returns to AFBF after serving as the chief economist for the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry from 2021 until 2024, and most recently serving as part of the Farm Credit system as the executive head of Terrain.
Read MoreThe state of Louisiana has withdrawn permit applications for one of its largest coastal restoration efforts, the Mid-Breton Sediment Diversion Project on the east bank of Plaquemines Parish.
The project would have channeled up to 75,000 cubic feet per second of Mississippi River water and sediment into Breton Sound to build wetlands.
Read MoreThe next generation of Louisiana farmers and ranchers is celebrating National 4-H Week.
4-H, a youth development program administered by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, focuses on teaching kids and teens life skills through hands-on experience.
High school senior Brock Greathouse says that joining 4-H not only gave him great real-life preparation outside of the classroom but also introduced him to things he’ll carry with him forever.
Read MoreDr. Mike Strain joins the show to share updates on Louisiana’s agriculture and fire prevention efforts. He began by celebrating the abundance of certified Louisiana seafood, especially shrimp and the upcoming crawfish season. With over 360,000 acres of farmed crawfish and favorable weather, the state anticipates a strong harvest with larger crawfish and lower prices, potentially around $2.34 per pound. Louisiana leads the nation in aquaculture, including oysters and crawfish, which are vital to its economy.
Read MoreThe Cotton Board and Cotton Incorporated 2024 Annual Reports are now available online. The annual reports for both companies include letters from the respective chairman, departmental highlights, detailed financial information, and board rosters.
Read MoreLast week, USA Rice and Ducks Unlimited co-hosted the annual Federal Duck Stamp Reception, showcasing the strong relationship between rice and ducks, and to promote ongoing conservation efforts.
The event celebrated the 12th anniversary of the USA Rice-Ducks Unlimited Stewardship Partnership, a unique alliance through which both organizations work to help rice farmers address water quantity, water quality, and wildlife habitat on working ricelands.
Read MoreSpecialists with the Mississippi State University Extension Service are monitoring the spread of a newly detected invasive pest in the state that could threaten future cotton yields.
The two-spotted leafhopper, also known as the cotton jassid, was first found in a Hinds County cotton field Sept. 8. It has since been confirmed in Noxubee, Neshoba, Oktibbeha and Forrest counties.
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